The countdown to my first quasi-race in a year has begun, just over 2 days to go... Considering the dismal running shape I was in for this annual event last year (I was in good basketball and lifting shape, but I had just started running a week or two before the race after taking most of the spring and summer off), it's arguably my first race in two years. My goal is to run 4 minutes faster than last year (different course), but I don't exactly remember last year's time with any accuracy...

138 miles over the past 5 weeks, with this last week being intentionally low... Prior to that stretch, it would have taken me easily 10 weeks to accrue such mileage.

Is any of that advice coming from personal experience? The race will be combined male/female, so I'll have to keep an eye out... Especially with my planned strategy of going out extra conservative to try and work into a rhythm instead of blowing up from lack of conditioning like I usually do at these damn events... If I fall behind early and don't know who's ahead, there may well be an 80 year old in front of me.

Quote:

the vomit goes on the top of your shoes, not on the bottom!

Interestingly, the race is being held where the high school course used to be, which was the location of my first ever (and only time there) cross country race. And yes, I did throw up after the race...

Dan all my race advice comes from personal experience I have lost to the first woman in a race (actually it was the first girl Stormy Weber in the 5th grade fun run) but I've never lost to anyone over 80. And as for the vomit quote it's been a mantra of mine for years. When I was in college we actually had what we called the breakfast club (anyone that raced so hard they lost thier breakfast) if you didn't make the breakfast club at least a couple of times a season you were considered a punk.

Good luck and remeber to wear old shoes _________________Time is the fire in which we burn

It's 5k, XC. That was last summer at this time that I was in better lifting shape than running shape. I haven't done bench press since about '94. I decided it's a fairly useless excercise... The best I managed was 225 pounds (I weighed 150, so I was pretty happy with 50% over my weight). From late spring through mid-November last year, I lifted weights all but maybe 10 days, many of those days lifting multiple times per day. For a stretch of at least a month during the summer, I could hardly lift my arms I was so sore.

Thats really good! Do weights come in pounds in America? Over here they are all measured in kilos. 225 is about 100kg isnt it? I suppose thats free weight isn't it? Because some people use the kind in gyms where you put a pin in to select the weight, and thats easier. I want to be able to lift about 100kg freeweight one day, but it'll be hard as I only weigh about 60kg.
Good luck with your race! What kind of time are you hoping for?

Thanks. Most weights in the US are marked in both pounds and kilos. 225 pounds is 102 kilograms, so you were quite close (roughly 2.2:1). I always opt for free weights when I have the option, if nothing else because it also works the small muscle groups from balancing the bar. Weight machines tend to have differing resistance throughout the path, too.

I'd be quite happy with 21 minutes tomorrow. Doesn't sound like much (actually, it sounds like a lot, but in the wrong manner ), but I haven't even trained at that pace for more than half a mile or a mile, so it might be overly ambitious...

Oh, while on my easy tune-up run this afternoon, I remembered some more details from that first-ever XC race of mine on the course I will be running tomorrow... It was my sophomore year, way back in '89. I had run track the previous spring, but that was my first time running as a sport since 4th grade (I played soccer during that time and wanted to get back into track in 7th grade, but my knees were too bad to walk, let alone run ). Needless to say, I didn't know what exactly to expect... The first meet I was eligble to run was on our home course, 2 weeks into the school year. I say eligble, because there was a co-hosted home invite meet the first week that you had to have something like 10 days of practice time to be cleared for, and I didn't go out for the team until the start of school, having been in Canada all summer. Actually, in the previous spring, I had gone to football meetings and was unsure which sport I would go out for...

So, there I am the day of my first ever XC race, not sure what exactly to do. I asked one of our better runners (I think it was our top guy who went on to be state champ, but I'm not positive) how I should run that 3k, and he told just to go out with the leaders on the first of three loops, then try to hold on. I didn't realize what exactly I was in store for with that advice... The team we were up against was the best in the conference that year and was deep enough to take 6 of the top 7 spots in the conference JV race. Unfortunately, those were the guys I was trying to hang with... The course was fairly flat, but there's one good hill at the start of the final loop. I could barely see straight by the top of that hill! I've never had my head spinning that badly before or since... I made it through the chute before throwing up in a nearby bush. From that day forward, I never ate a deli sandwhich for lunch...

So there you have it, that was my first and last experience on that course, and quite a memorable one! 13 years later (is that lucky or what??), I get a chance to redeem myself, and the guy who gave me that godawful advice will probably be in the race.